Avatress: The Beloved Rising
by athenagirl87445
Summary: When Katara visits the Fire Nation, she begins having nightmares about Aang dying horrible deaths, harnessing powers she never knew she had, and discovering strange markings on her body that seem to form from nothing. Rest of summery in story.
1. Prolouge

After five years of renewing the world from the scars left by Ozai's reign, you'd think Katara could catch a little break when she visits her friends on Ember Island for a summer vacation. But one night, Katara has a chilling vision of strange people clustering around her, and an old woman telling her that the Avatress is rising. People have mixed feelings about it, but their all asking the same question: Who is Avatress?

Now, Katara is thrown into a heart pounding, soul searching race against the clock to find the dying source of both the Avatar and the Avatress's powers, but there is only one catch: She can't tell anybody, not even Aang!


	2. Something Important

"Isn't this a bit much Sokka?" Aang asked his best friend, turning this way and that to get better views of his dress robes in the mirror. They were his traditional orange and yellow colors, but they were so much fancier than he was accustomed to when he wore his monk uniform.

" Aang, of course it's a bit much, " said Sokka, coming up next to him, clothed in similar attire, but his was a striking navy. "But it's a party; it has to be all fancy. Trust me, I don't like it either, but there are going to be a lot of people there that we could really use in renewing the world. I mean their money of course." He adjusted his Warrior's Wolf tail.

Aang wasn't so sure. "Well, it would be much easier if we just snuck in as bus boys." They smiled as they recalled their time in Ba Sing Se, where they snuck into a royal ball in order to talk with the Earth King about information on how to defeat the Fire Lord.

Sokka frowned. "I wouldn't be so sure. At that party, we weren't welcome. Here, we are. Plus, we get to dance with all the ladies!" he said in his sly voice and made two finger guns at his reflection.

"Dance with all the ladies and you'll wake up to find a fistful of Kyoshi Warrior in your face." The Avatar joked. Then a knock came from the bedroom door. "Speaking of the ladies…" he reached out to open the door and the breath was knocked out of him.

Standing there, were two beautiful girls, but Aang only had eyes for one. She was clad in a beautiful aqua, floor length, and one strap dress with intricate sky blue spirals that trimmed the edges. Her dark amber hair (no hair loopies this time, 'they were childish' she had once said to him) was pulled into a half ponytail by a gauntlet that shimmered so gracefully, one might think of it as ice. Her only jewelry was a pair of tiny aquamarine earrings and her mother's necklace, without which the beauty standing in front of Aang would not be the Katara he so deeply loved.

"Hi Aang…Sokka. You two clean up good. "Katara said, admiring their dress robes.

He was going to say something cool, like 'Yea I know' or 'You two' but instead it just came out as, "Uhh…"

Then Katara smiled and pecked him on the cheek, and the evening became ten times better.

"Are you guys ready?" Sokka asked as he leaned around Aang.

"As ready as we'll ever be." The girl next to Katara grumbled to the floor. It was Suki, Sokka's girlfriend. Being a Kyoshi Warrior, she wasn't into being friendly or shaking hands with anybody, more like punching, stabbing, or blowing somebody away with her battle fans.

"Don't worry. Us neither." Sokka reassured her, stepped around me and Katara and took up Suki's arm. "You guys coming?" He called over his shoulder.

Katara looked into Aang's grey eyes and his heart jumped. Her eyebrows knit together. "We'll catch up. You guys go ahead." She called after them, but they were already on their way to the ballroom. "Aang, I want to talk to you. Can I come in?"

"Sure." He stepped out of the way. They sat down on the bench by the window and looked out to the many guests arriving. They shared a long silence, but in the end, it was Aang who broke it. "Katara is there something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

She looked back at him, as if she had just been absorbed in a daydream. "What? Oh, sorry Aang. It's just… it's nothing.

"Then what do you want to talk about?"

"Uh, well... I just-"She faltered and trailed off. Aang considered himself a curious Avatar. So, he tried a different approach.

"I can't believe it's been four years since Sozin's Comet. It feels like just yesterday you were pulling me out of that iceberg. And now, here we are, all dressed up and going to the new Fire lord's engagement party."

"Yeah, so much has changed." She looked away. He couldn't argue with that. He'd finally grown taller than she was, and she'd become even more beautiful. But that wasn't the only thing that had changed…

"Katara," He didn't try to hide the tenderness in his voice. She looked up. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

Judging by the way she looked at him, he could tell she was about to spill. Here it comes…

She sighed. "I know." I just wanted to tell you that I love you. That's all."

Aang tried to hide his disappointment. "Okay. I love you too." He leaned over and kissed her on the lips, like he had done so many times in these last four years. Then he took her hands and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, let's get to the party. We have a lot of people to shake hands with."

"Okay. Joy" She slipped her arm into his and they strolled out of the bedroom and down the corridor. She smiled, but something was hidden behind it, something important.

Aang didn't think much of it then, but out of the corner of my eye, he saw Katara's free hand clutch the aqua fabric at her stomach.


	3. Something of a Dream

THAT MORNING

It was early morning, the sun hadn't risen, and mostly everyone on board the ship was asleep. Everyone, that is, except Katara.

She was almost there. She could feel it. Every heartbeat brought her closer and closer to him, to Aang: His sweet, mischievous smile, his beautiful stormy grey eyes, and his kisses, each one more precious than the next. Yes, she was so close. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself when she got lonely. She leaned over the railing, letting the familiar ocean breeze waft over her.

She would pull all nighters like this while on her travels. Sometimes they would be invaded by small rebellions or Appa would turn sick, and she would have to stay up all night to nurse him back to health. Appa was stubborn, and no one on board knew that better than her.

But it wasn't a rebellious attack or a sick bison that kept her up tonight. It was a dream. A horrible, gut retching one that she had no intention of repeating. So her plan was to wait for sleep to come when she was home, safe in Aang's comforting embrace.

The dream started out like this.

She was standing on a huge column of rock that stretched a least 30 feet into the sky, but Katara guessed more. All around her were similar columns, thousands, all ranging in various, but similar heights, and all towering over the Earth and dominating the sky. There was no green, and the sky was a strange amber color. It reminded her of The Comet, when it had passed over the Fire Nation Palace, so long ago. The sky had lit up the same color. She squeezed her eyes from the glare, when opened them again.

On every pillar, standing and staring at her, was a person. Each person was dressed in a different Nation's custom attire. Some were clothed in red black and brown colors, others in multiple shades of green. She even saw several Water Tribe robes; clothes very similar to the ones she had seen back home, and the monk uniforms and light, airy colors of the Air Nomads. She gazed at them. They all seemed familiar, like she had met them before. Behind her, she heard the shuffle of feet, and turned to face the stranger.

It was a strange woman. She looked about forty, her long black hair was twisted into a traditional, Fire Nation bun, and she was clothed in a dark cloak. She smiled a kind smile, but it was a sad one, pitiful even, like she felt sorry for Katara. And when she spoke her words were the strangest of all. They seemed to be coming from all directions, from everyone there.

"Dear Katara. Your time is coming. The Beloved is rising, your powers are beginning to manifest themselves. But you have a long journey ahead, and only I can help you. Find me child, find me… Avatress. "

Then the woman disappeared, erupted into a column of blue light and vanished. Katara tried to call after her, but she could not speak, like she couldn't find the right words to say.

Suddenly, her head exploded with pain. Images of a person falling to his doom into a black abyss, him getting crushed by falling rocks, and other horrible deaths scenes unfolded in front of her, and she had no way to stop it.

She woke up in a cold sweat, and the only thought running through her mind, was the boy, suffering those unspeakable tortures. She knew the boy. It was Aang.


End file.
